Marie-Sophie’s Project

From Dresden to Ådum

Hej, I am Marie-Sophie, 19 years old and I come from Germany. I did my ESC in a kindergarten in Ådum.

What is my project actually?

Ådum kindergarten is located near Skjern in the western part of Denmark and it’s in the countryside area.  The specificity is a focus on movement and sports for the children on daily basis. We are using our  big playground every day and go for walks in our local area. In the kindergarten there are approx. 60 children. 40 children in the kindergarten (age 3-6 years) and 20 children in the nursery (age 6 month-3 years).

I used to participate in planned activities but had the opportunity to plan other activities too. A part of this was my solidarity project.  I got a great insight in the Danish traditions (birthdays, Christmas, easter, …) celebrated in the kindergarten.

What was my solidarity project?

Because of the focus on traditions in the kindergarten, I wanted to show the children some German traditions too. That’s why I organized a German week as my solidarity project. In the preparation time I needed to choose which traditions I want to focus on and plan the activities. I researched more background information about Saint Martin, which was supposed to be the main activity.  And I had prepared the instructions on how to make a lantern. I found some German recipes too and bought all ingredients, so I was ready to start the German days in the kindergarten.

Monday: Eins, zwei, drei (one, two, three)

Every morning, each group meets in a circle and all the children eat fruit together. Afterwards we usually sing a few Danish children’s songs. This week was different because I taught the children what the fruit, i.e. apple, banana and pear, means in German. Afterwards, the children learned how to count to three on German. Instead of the Danish children’s songs, we sang Brother Jakob on German.

On the first day of the week, I planned that we would make the lanterns for Saint Martin. As written, I had already prepared instructions beforehand, which I could then give to each group. My colleagues did a good job and in the end it wasn’t as difficult as I had imagined because the others were very supportive. In my group, the children were three years old, so they needed a little more help with the construction of the lanterns, but in the end each child had a self-painted lantern. In the afternoon I baked St. Martin’s geese with a few children, the typical pastry for St. Martin. They even turned out well in the end and the children were very happy to be able to help me, because then there were also a few raisins left to snack on.

Tuesday: Sports Day

Every Tuesday my group is always in the sports room, where the children can move. We listened to the “Fliegerlied” that day and danced to it. The children liked this very much. I also showed a video where a talking broccoli tells a story, and then the children had to jump over imaginary stones or crawl under low-hanging branches.

Wednesday: Saint Martin

 We went to the large sports hall, where we first gathered in a circle. I explained to the children in simple words what the story behind Saint Martin is, who Martin actually was and why we still celebrate it today. It was a challenge in Danish, but in the end the children understood what I wanted to tell them. Afterwards, everyone lined up in a long row and each child got his or her self-made lantern. There was also a small tea light. After the lights were turned off, we finally went in circles for a few laps with the lanterns. We then listened to the German song “Sonne, Mond und Sterne”. After the short walk, I finally handed out the selfmade St. Martin’s geese. The special thing was that two children always had to share a pastry. The remaining St. Martin’s geese were finally given in the afternoon and one child had taken one home with her, where she divided the pastry into five parts so that everyone in the family could get something. It was nice to see that the children understood how important it is to share.

https://www.facebook.com/AadumBoerneunivers/videos/2026648541056919/: Marie-Sophie’s Project

Thursday: Fun & Games

One morning a week there is a small special feature, named the animal suitcase. As a result, the children learn the names of the animals and this time the children learned them on German. On Thursday, I had also planned for us to play a few German games, such as “When the king goes through the country, he doesn’t want to see any green.” In this game, for example, the king is allowed to catch all the children who have green on their clothes.

Friday: In the Christmas bakery

Immediately after I came to work, I started to prepare the cookie dough with two children, because the plan for the last day was to bake German cookies, called “Plätzchen”.  The children even learned beforehand what ingredients are needed because the day before we went shopping together. After the dough was in the fridge, the children were finally able to roll it out and cut out cookies. When the children in my group were finished, a few children from the oldest group were also able to taste. At the end, a few other children decorated the cookies, so that in the end everyone had the opportunity to try something out and be part of the long process. Finally, at the end of the exciting week, we were able to eat the cookies.

Last but not least

I have noticed that not only me, but also the children have learned a lot from this week. Even 6 months later, there are still a few children who can count on German to three. Or it was very funny then, as a boy from my group told his grandmother outside of the kindergarten, during gymnastics, that they had to count German.